Overview (Without Spoilers):
Summon Night: Swordcraft Story (or SNSS for short) has you playing as,
depending on which gender you choose, Cleru, (Boy) or Pratty, (Girl).
Your
father, one of the highest Craftlords ever has disappeared, and you
must
take in his foot-steps to become a Craftlord (a person who can
create the world's most amazing weaponry ever) as well. You'll begin to fight
in a
tournament to slowly raise your ranking in the world, but find things
aren't so simple...

Gameplay:
SNSS takes a page out of Tales Of Phantasia. Instead of normal,
turn-based
fighting back and forth, you are set in a scrolling screen with enemies
coming at you, all based in real-time. Though you fight by yourself,
you can
call your Summon Creature (or ally) to come and aid you with offensive
magic, item usage, and defensive magic.

Unique Point(s):
A key feature makes SNSS different from other RPGs: its weapon
crafting
system. Because the world is mostly revolved around weapon crafters,
you as
well have to craft better weapons to use in battle. This is done by
finding
items that can be smelted into workable ore, and finding 'Techniques'
that
allow you to craft a new weapon, using these ore's. Though there are
only 5
ores, many items you come across will only smelt into a certain ore,
or
multiple ores, depending on rarity. Techniques are found in many
places, so
exploring towns and talking to everyone is vital.

Graphics:
The graphics for SNSS are fairly plain and dulled, save for characters
and
enemies, who take on a cartoony, with a touch of anime-ish art effect.
Dungeons and towns are just static, normal color's that really don't
stand
out at all, and just feel boring to look at.

Sound/Music:
The FX for the game aren't the utter greatest. A sword used against a
slime
monster makes the same sound when used against a metalic monster; The
same
general sounds, with no 'creativity' to it. Music however is a bit
higher
quality; though the same stereotypical music (up-beat for towns, dark for
dungeons.), the music when in battle has a catchy feel to it, though
after
the first few hours, the luster begins to die down. Poo.

Result:
SNSS has a new weapon-crafting system that adds a new element to the
usual
RPG drawing board: being able to get ores and craft your own weaponry.
Though at times it becomes slightly frustrating when you're missing a
few
ores, it makes that extra urge to have you explore just a little more
to a
dungeon floor, or to re-visit constantly. Though weak in presentation,
SNSS
makes up for that in entertaining game-play and character dialogue.

Final Word:
Though biased (Since I own the game. ^-^), I must say that Summon
Night:
Swordcraft Story is a definite choice if you enjoy hand-held RPG's, as
well
as more cutesy, less difficult style of game. The story-line will soon
suck
you in, and you may find yourself playing for long stints.